It is a reasonably high tension crime drama of a sort, kind of like Bridget Fonda's 'A Simple Plan' in terms of crime category. That's a rough comparison, but it has a fairly similar concept of crime and irony.
The human drama is really what struck me. The story is fairly awkward, awkward enough that you'll pay attention the first time (given that you don't read spoilers and this is not a spoiler). There is an emotional intimacy without any explicit scenes, which is often seen in Japanese movies. In fact it's so innocent compared to the west, perhaps the emotions it attempts to convey may be lost on the viewer if you don't pay attention. Personally, I enjoyed it because it's a refreshing approach by western standard, where the concept of intimacy is generally based on high energy bed action and explicitness. The director manages to keep it quiet and subtle, often with very few words, yet it's precisely that subtlety that seems to provoke much deeper human emotions of a youth that we might have forgotten in our later years. Intimacy of mind, if you will.
The drama is made with strands of various relationship themes, such as good friendship, bad friendship, workplace, parent to son, brother to sister, and the most subtle of all is the love relationship. They are all interwoven to tell the story, but most of these relationships are projected through the 17 year-old high school boy, whose emotional turmoil is the mainframe of the plot. I've been noticing that a lot of Japanese movies often do not define good and evil in a typically Christian-Judean manner, but rather to portray good and evil as 2 sides of the same thing. This director's take on it is also interesting, if you choose to pay attention to that aspect of the movie; everyone seems to have their version of that duality.
The scene is beautiful considering it's not a massive movie. Simple, yet effective use of natural resources and camera angles seems to do the job. Interiors are at first uncomfortable, but it grows on you somewhat. Fast action is minimal in the environment, as the main drive is the journey of the mind.
The finale is fitting too - not necessarily in terms of what happens, but what is said by the boy; the very last paragraph read out as the movies comes to an end is probably the most significant part of the movie, so you may want to hear it out before you walk off. It seems to finally reveal the essence of the character, his simple boyish desires of life, complicated on the outside by his environment. Just like anyone's life then, with a complex texture of the surface hiding the simplicity of life. They are only simple lines, yet the context is as big as the whole movie. 'Why was the journey so hard then?', I found myself asking as the end credit hit the screen. Perhaps that is an unanswerable question. But what is easy enough to answer when you watch it through is, Why the last paragraph? Perhaps his girlfriend was the true enigma of the story. You will have to decide that yourself.
It is strange how life tends to get complicated, even when we are able to appreciate very simple things in life. Why do things get complicated when a simpler life was all you needed? Why does simplicity always get tainted? Only if you could live it again, you would have found the happiness just around the corner but no, you always have to go the long way to realize how close happiness once was. Or maybe life is only life when there are more questions than answers. Nonetheless you can attempt to answer these questions, if you like.
It is not a ground breaking movie by any means, but the philosophy of life as a simple journey is subtly and beautifully projected through a peculiar circumstance, in the context of a maturing 17 year-old. As I found out, there is a slight cultural barrier in the setup and behavior of some characters if you are raised in the west. However, when faced with the philosophical component of it all, perhaps even its story only plays a supporting role. I hope you will feel it with your heart, as much as watch it with your eyes.
The human drama is really what struck me. The story is fairly awkward, awkward enough that you'll pay attention the first time (given that you don't read spoilers and this is not a spoiler). There is an emotional intimacy without any explicit scenes, which is often seen in Japanese movies. In fact it's so innocent compared to the west, perhaps the emotions it attempts to convey may be lost on the viewer if you don't pay attention. Personally, I enjoyed it because it's a refreshing approach by western standard, where the concept of intimacy is generally based on high energy bed action and explicitness. The director manages to keep it quiet and subtle, often with very few words, yet it's precisely that subtlety that seems to provoke much deeper human emotions of a youth that we might have forgotten in our later years. Intimacy of mind, if you will.
The drama is made with strands of various relationship themes, such as good friendship, bad friendship, workplace, parent to son, brother to sister, and the most subtle of all is the love relationship. They are all interwoven to tell the story, but most of these relationships are projected through the 17 year-old high school boy, whose emotional turmoil is the mainframe of the plot. I've been noticing that a lot of Japanese movies often do not define good and evil in a typically Christian-Judean manner, but rather to portray good and evil as 2 sides of the same thing. This director's take on it is also interesting, if you choose to pay attention to that aspect of the movie; everyone seems to have their version of that duality.
The scene is beautiful considering it's not a massive movie. Simple, yet effective use of natural resources and camera angles seems to do the job. Interiors are at first uncomfortable, but it grows on you somewhat. Fast action is minimal in the environment, as the main drive is the journey of the mind.
The finale is fitting too - not necessarily in terms of what happens, but what is said by the boy; the very last paragraph read out as the movies comes to an end is probably the most significant part of the movie, so you may want to hear it out before you walk off. It seems to finally reveal the essence of the character, his simple boyish desires of life, complicated on the outside by his environment. Just like anyone's life then, with a complex texture of the surface hiding the simplicity of life. They are only simple lines, yet the context is as big as the whole movie. 'Why was the journey so hard then?', I found myself asking as the end credit hit the screen. Perhaps that is an unanswerable question. But what is easy enough to answer when you watch it through is, Why the last paragraph? Perhaps his girlfriend was the true enigma of the story. You will have to decide that yourself.
It is strange how life tends to get complicated, even when we are able to appreciate very simple things in life. Why do things get complicated when a simpler life was all you needed? Why does simplicity always get tainted? Only if you could live it again, you would have found the happiness just around the corner but no, you always have to go the long way to realize how close happiness once was. Or maybe life is only life when there are more questions than answers. Nonetheless you can attempt to answer these questions, if you like.
It is not a ground breaking movie by any means, but the philosophy of life as a simple journey is subtly and beautifully projected through a peculiar circumstance, in the context of a maturing 17 year-old. As I found out, there is a slight cultural barrier in the setup and behavior of some characters if you are raised in the west. However, when faced with the philosophical component of it all, perhaps even its story only plays a supporting role. I hope you will feel it with your heart, as much as watch it with your eyes.
